Rice students receive free tickets to Final Four

By Connor Hayes     4/7/11 7:00pm

While the Owl's basketball season ended at the hands of the University of Tulsa during this year's Conference USA tournament, 300 lucky Rice students were able to experience March Madness first hand at Monday night's NCAA championship game held at Reliant Stadium.

Each of the schools competing in the championship game, the University of Connecticut and Butler University of Indianapolis, Ind., were allotted 800 tickets for their courtside student sections. While Butler managed to fill their space by subsidizing student transport and hotel accommodations, UConn had much fewer students make the nearly 2,000 mile trip from Storrs, Conn.

UConn had a noticeable attendance shortage in their student section during their semifinal matchup with the University of Kentucky. With extra tickets in their possession, the offer was extended to Rice and the University of Houston (the two Final Four "host schools") to fill the open seats.

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Ryan Holloway, Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Ticket Sales, sent the initial announcement on the tickets via email to the Varsity Sports Liaisons from each residential college just before 10:30 a.m. on Monday.

Students who were among the first 300 to arrive at Tudor Fieldhouse were asked to sign up with their name and student ID number and were told that they could pick up their physical tickets between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the Reliant Center that evening.

Will Rice College senior Mike Burcham, one of the VSLs who received the initial message from Holloway, said he tried to get the information out to those around him as quickly as possible.

"I grabbed my roommate as fast as I could, emailed and texted a bunch of people in my contacts and told people about the deal on my way to Tudor. I knew that if I tried to forward the email to the Will Rice secretaries it would have gone out too late," Burcham said.

Burcham described a chaotic scene on his way to Tudor to claim his spot at the game.

"When I was walking over to the gym I literally saw people running from their dorms. I thought that they were late for class at first, but then I realized that we were all headed to the same place … everyone was on their cell phones calling or texting their friends," he recalled.

While Holloway's contacting of the VSLs proved to be an effective way to disseminate information about the tickets, some colleges inevitably received the message earlier than others.

Baker College junior Matthew Nanes, also a VSL, remarked that there were some disparities in representation from each residential college.

"I could tell when I was at the game that Hanszen had more students in attendance than any other college. I forwarded Ryan [Holloway]'s email to the Baker listserv as soon as I received it, but Hanszen's email list is not moderated so those students were among the first to find out," Nanes explained.

While the process was successful for most, many students including Jones College senior Alex Johannigman encountered frustrating and chaotic situations when both attempting to reserve his tickets and pick them up at the stadium.

"There were people [at Tudor] cutting through the line without respect to the others who had gotten there first. I'm glad I managed to get a ticket, but for something as important as the championship game I wish Rice athletics had spent a bit more time making the sign-up table more organized and efficient," said Johannigman

Will Rice junior Clayton Chaney was able to sign up for a ticket, but was one of a few students who met trouble at the stadium that evening.

"I signed up to receive a free ticket, but when I got to the Reliant Center to pick it up I was told that my name was not on the list. This situation was especially stressful because there was nobody to contact to prove that I had signed up," Chaney explained.

Lovett College freshman Justin Gross was also among the 300 students to reserve a spot at the game.

"When I walked into the Reliant Center I was baffled by the number of students who were waiting in line to pick up their tickets," remarked Gross. "In the heat of the moment, it was highly stressful, but once I walked through the gates and got past security I was just excited to be there."

Johannigman agreed that the stress of reserving and acquiring tickets was overshadowed by the experience of attending such a high profile game.

"It was a great experience, especially reading all of the comments online about how many Rice Owls were at the game. I can't help but wonder how much more exciting it will be if and when we get a chance to see our own team in the Final Four."

Wiess College senior Ashten Ackerman had a close up view of the Monday morning chaos at Tudor as the lone student working the registration table.

"Within the first hour all of the 300 tickets were gone. We had tons of students running down the inner loop and across the intramural fields to get to Tudor. With only one table and just me working registration it was a bit nuts at times, but essentially whoever made it there first got a ticket," she recalled.

Nanes believed that the situation was a win-win for both Rice and UConn, as Rice students were able to attend the event, and UConn received some extra fan support.

"The UConn section definitely had less people than Butler's, so we were happy to help fill in the empty space. Most of the UConn fans got there before us, so we sort of filled in behind them and tried our best to learn their cheers and get into the game," he said.

Many students who were able to obtain a ticket and join the UConn fans made it no secret that they were representatives of Rice, as a number appeared on national television displaying Rice-related signs and clothing.

"I know a lot of people wore Rice gear either because they didn't really care who won the game or because it was the only thing that they had that matched UConn's colors," Nanes added. "I think it ended up generating a lot of exposure for Rice, especially when students got on TV wearing their Rice shirts and holding up signs."

Students in the background of the telecast were recognizably representing the "Rice Owls," and confused viewers took to the Internet and their social media accounts to inquire as to the significance of the term. Owl fans and alumni, on the other hand, were amused and entertained at the national exposure.

"I wasn't able to attend the game, but just from watching on TV I could recognize a lot of Rice students in the background," Baker College sophomore Andie Obermeyer said.

The term "Rice Owls" was mentioned so often during the game on the popular micro-blogging website Twitter that it became a worldwide "trending topic," meaning that it was one of the top 10 most used phrases on the site during that period of time.

In addition to the confused viewers and Rice fans, some more notable Owls contributed to Rice's Twitter trend.

"Rice has infiltrated the background of the halftime show. We're everywhere!" Former Rice football standout and current Houston Texans tight end James Casey said on his Twitter account. University President David Leebron also tweeted during the live telecast that students "looked like they were having a great time."

With the Final Four headed back to Houston in 2016, Owl fans can only hope that they will then have another chance to attend a championship game — next time to root for Rice.

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